Regulator of Social Housing delivers verdict
Following a recent inspection by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), Waltham Forest Council has been awarded the second highest rating of a C2 against the consumer standards. Full details of the four consumer standards can be found on the Government website. The inspection involved a detailed review of documents and onsite interviews with senior officers and councillors. Inspectors also attended scrutiny committee meetings and a resident-led engagement meeting.
The RSH issues gradings from C1, where consumer standards are fully met, to C4, where there are very serious failings. The C2 grading indicates that while the council is broadly meeting the consumer standards, there are some weaknesses and improvement is needed. The inspection highlighted several key areas where the council is performing well including health and safety compliance, working effectively with partner agencies to tackle and deter anti-social behaviour, and providing opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise services.
It also outlined where improvements needed to be made, including increasing the number of homes that meet the decent homes standards, improving the timeliness and efficiency of the repairs and maintenance service, having clearer tenancy management policies, and better engagement with hard-to-reach groups. The regulator is confident that the council has plans in place to address these.
The inspection took place between December 2024 and April 2025 and comes after significant investment by the council to improve its housing service through its Housing Transformation Programme, launched in January 2023.
Councillor Ahsan Khan, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration, said "We welcome the findings of the Social Housing Regulator. We are pleased with our progress we’ve made so far and feel the C2 rating reflects this, but we are also aware there is still more to do. We will work closely with residents, tenant management organisations and partners to help provide a better service for our residents and are committed to addressing the areas of improvements identified in the report. Our comprehensive improvement action plan is already underway to address the issues raised in the inspection.
“Finally, thank you to residents, staff and housing partners who helped us through the inspection process. We are committed to continuing to learn from resident feedback and providing opportunities for residents to influence service improvements.”
London is at the epicentre of a national housing crisis. Since the 1980s, councils have been required to sell off their housing stock through Right to Buy, but Treasury rules meant that we were not able to use the receipts to build new homes. This has led to a significant reduction in council housing, increasing homelessness and escalating budget pressures as demand continues to outstrip supply.
Our Mission Waltham Forest strategy commits us to tackling the housing crisis head on - but we cannot solve it alone. Over the last decade, the council has built over 9,000 homes with 2,916 being affordable. With 35 per cent of new homes available for either intermediate or social rent, over 1,500 households that were formerly on the Housing Register now have a stable, secure long-term home.
It’s not just building new homes, however. Waltham Forest is also working to tackle the housing crisis head on through improving and upgrading its existing housing stock. Our Housing Strategy 2024 – 2029 contains details of how we are working to ensure every home in the borough is healthy, safe, and affordable to heat - regardless of tenure. We have also introduced new ways of managing anti-social behaviour so problems can be quickly and effectively dealt with, and we are launching our new online portal for reporting repairs in May 2025.
Having a secure home environment is one of the most important things to give people the foundations they need to make the very most of their life chances.